March 3, 2015

House panel votes to beef up campaign finance disclosures

A bill that would shed more sunlight on campaign ads and so-called dark money political donations gained approval today during the first of three scheduled committee hearings in the House.

The measure, co-sponsored by Rep. James E. Smith, R-Sandia Park, and Rep. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, saw only one dissenting vote in the House Safety and Public Affairs Committee.

Viki Harrison, executive director of Common Cause New Mexico, said she wasn’t surprised by the wide margin of support.

“A much more complicated version of this bill has passed the Senate three times, the last two times unanimously,” Harrison said. “This is not a partisan issue. This is about leveling the playing field, because if candidates and parties have to report, then we should expect anybody else who’s involved in elections to report.”

Revised language inserted in the committee makes the measure easier to understand, said Harrison, plus helps government agencies enforce requirements for so-called “covered transfers” of money.

Harrison said she was optimistic other changes can be added down the line to alleviate lingering concerns, including those brought up by Rep. Rick Little, R-Chaparral, who voted against the bill.

“We just want to make sure that people aren’t playing a shell game,” said Harrison, comparing covered transfers to a Russian doll.

“Peeling back the layers, you never find out who wrote the check, other than these innocuous-sounding [political action committee] names.”

Imagine for example, said Harrison, that a look into the finances of the I Love New Mexico PAC reveals only that its money was derived from the I Really Love New Mexico PAC, which reports that its funds came from the I Really, Really Love New Mexico PAC.

“You never know who really wrote the checks,” said Harrison.

Other states are beginning to include covered transfers in their campaign finance disclosure laws, she added, to address gaps in information created by the Supreme Court decision on Citizens United v. FEC.

Related

More About

Candidates for state senate filed paperwork Tuesday to run in their parties’ primaries later this year.
The filings included several contested primaries, including two Republican members of the state House running against incumbents in the state Senate and other open seat races getting multiple candidates from each party.
State Senators are only up for election every four years. Republican incumbents facing challengers in June
State Rep. David Gallegos filed paperwork to run for Senate in District 41 in southeastern New Mexico against incumbent Gregg Fulfer in the Republican primary.

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Wednesday a slight easing of COVID-19 restrictions, while also announcing some increased restrictions as of Saturday, May 16.
While Lujan Grisham said the state would start allowing retailers and some other businesses to open to the public with capacity limitations, she also said the new public health emergency order will require everyone in the state to wear a face and nose covering when in public spaces.
She said many businesses, with the exception of entertainment businesses like movie theaters, could open this weekend as long as they keep their capacity at 25 percent of what the fire code allows. She said those businesses must also continue to take certain precautions against spreading COVID-19.
Large retail “box” stores would have their capacity capped at 20 percent.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed a bill into law Friday that protects working mothers and new moms from discrimination in the workplace. HB 25, or the Pregnant Worker Accommodation Bill, amends the state’s Human Rights Act to make pregnancy, childbirth and conditions related to either a protected class from employment discrimination.

After six years of trying to require "dark money" organizations and other independent-expenditure groups to report their political backers, supporters of campaign-finance reform got their bill through the state House of Representatives on Monday night. The House on Monday passed Senate Bill 96, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, and Rep. Jim Smith, D-Sandia Park.

Starting next year, the Internal Revenue Service will no longer collect the names of major donors to thousands of nonprofit organizations, from the National Rifle Association to the American Civil Liberties Union to the AARP. Democratic members of Congress and critics of money in politics blasted the move, announced last week by the Treasury Department, the IRS’ parent agency.

Join the Conversation on Twitter

Recent Posts

A day after state health officials announced the highest single-day number of COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic, they announced 129 additional confirmed cases and five additional deaths related to the disease.

State Human Services Department Secretary Dr. David Scrase offered some data supporting the use of masks and social distancing to help slow the spread of COVID-19.
The use of face masks in public has become a polarizing topic among some communities as the state has loosened its restrictions on businesses, including closures, over the last week.
While cloth masks aren’t suitable for use in healthcare settings, Scrase said they are still useful at preventing the spread of the illness among the general public.

Public health orders restricting some businesses and public gatherings are slowly being lifted, but the New Mexico Supreme Court’s restrictions on eviction proceedings and limitations on civil cases in general are still in place.

Margaret Wright is a freelance writer and editor born and raised in Albuquerque, NM. She has also worked as a teacher, social worker and waitress. She was promoted from contributor to managing editor of Albuquerque’s alt.weekly Alibi before going on to co-found the New Mexico Compass (R.I.P.), a digital news and culture outlet with an emphasis on mentoring fledgling journalists.